I am your typical housewife living in high maintenance suburbia. I have a handsome husband, 2 kids and a flock of pet chickens. I try and feed my family with $100 a month. With the help of coupons, gardening and bartering I am able to squeeze the most out of our grocery budget and still manage to have a little fun along the way.

The links in the post below may be affiliate links. Read the full disclosureBy Mavis Butterfield on September 13, 2016 · 2 Comments

Welcome to my 52 Ways to Save $100 a Month series. We’re serious about saving money in 2016. Sometimes it’s the little things and sometimes it’s the big things. I’m here to walk you through some little things that can add up to BIG savings. 52 little things to be exact. Every week, join me back here for another small money saving tip or idea that might not seem like significant savings until you see the overall yearly savings. It might just blow your mind. So pop in each Tuesday and read a new tip that will help you on your way to save $100 a month!

A few months ago we talked about how to save by Shopping for Christmas in July. That post talked about shopping sales all year long, saving all year long and making gifts all year long. Well since the average amount of money spent around Christmas is crazy, with the typical American spending roughly $950 on gifts and parents spending almost $300 per child, I though we should address how to cut down on overall Christmas spending. It’s a topic that justifies two posts! So here are 5 more ways to save some serious holiday dollars.

Draw Names: This is a great one as your family gets a little older or if you have a large extended family you buy for every year. It also works really well for large friend groups. You simply throw all the names in a hat, everyone secretly draws someone and then purchases a gift just for that one person. You can set dollar limits to help further your savings, or even just eliminate store bought gifts and go completely hand-made or from the heart {I’ve seen uncrafty friends gift services, ie. a free lawn mowing or a free night of babysitting}. Plus, the element of surprise is so much fun when gifts are exchanged and everyone can see who drew who.

Buy Family Gifts: If you do typically buy for all of your extended family and that family just keeps growing, Christmas can get crazy expensive. Buying a present for every siblings or niece and nephew can drain your bank account in a hurry. Playing off the drawing names idea, you can draw families instead. Write each family on a piece of paper and you draw just one family. You can still set spending limits, but the gifts should be geared towards the whole family, ie. fun board games, movies, treats they love, movie tickets, croquet sets, etc. Presents still get unwrapped, families still get things they can use and love and everyone potentially saves hundreds!

Kids Only: This can be done in your immediate family or in an extended family {friends and neighbors, too!}. Many families have decided to only shop for the kids at Christmas. If you love that idea, don’t be embarrassed to bring up the topic. I suspect many of your family members are likely thinking the same thing that you are and would be totally on board with the idea. You can just opt to buy for your kids and not exchange gifts with your spouse, draw kid-only names, or even do a money pool just for the kids like a friend of mine does. She has a large extended family with about 16 nieces and nephews. All of the aunts and uncles pitch in what they can {some are in the financial boat where they can contribute hundreds, while others can only contribute a little}, and then they take all of that money, divide it up between the kids and head out shopping. She said it has saved them thousands over the years, and the kids are none the wiser.

Toy Swap: This one is so much fun if you want to do a neighborhood or friend present exchange but don’t want to cough up hundreds to buy everyone presents. Simply clean out the toy closet, have your kids decide what still-in-good-condition toys they are ready to part with, clean them up, wrap them and you’re ready. Then plan a fun potluck lunch or dinner, or even a simple night of hot cocoa around the tree, and have the kids exchange their gifts. The toys will all be new-to-them toys, and everyone leaves happy!

Charity Instead: If your kids have more toys than they know what to do with, or if you are looking to have a super meaningful Christmas, think about a “giving only” holiday. Talk with your kids about the importance of giving to those in need and ask them to help pick a charity your family can serve. Explain that instead of getting gifts this year, you will only be giving. You could choose to purchase presents for a secret family, wrap up gifts for Toys for Tots, or make a monetary donation to a charity important to your family. Or you could opt to give nothing material and volunteer your time instead. I think serving together as a family will teach them more life lessons than a silly talking doll ever could.

How Much Can You Save: Thousands. If you were to implement the charity service suggestion, you’d save every penny you would normally spend on Christmas. My friend estimated she saved about $500 a year by just buying for the kids in the kid-pool way. Regardless of if you choose all of these ideas or just one, you’ll curb some of the holiday spending for sure!

Comments

Our family contribute to the family “pot,” usually $20 a family or however much they can. Each year, one family gets the pot to do with as they see fit (must be for others). One year my sister did a Secret Santa for another family down the street that had very little with several kids. Another year, my sister bought jerseys for the low income baseball team that couldn’t afford it. Another year, my brother used his contacts and bought in bulk to contribute to the local food bank. Whoever has the “pot” for the year, gives a full accounting for it on New Year’s Day.

I am shocked to see that most Americans spend $900 for Christmas presents and $300 per child. I have ALWAYS had a limit of $100 each for my son and my significant other. I stick to that budget and even that seems extravagant. For my son I give him $100 and he can spend $50 on each of us but not any more than that. We did make an exception last year. My son wanted a new computer. My SO said that if he wanted a new computer he should learn how to build it and that whatever my son put towards the computer he would match as long as he learned about building it. My son did extra chores, babysat, helped neighbors with yardwork….anything he could to earn the money. He put $900 towards the computer and then learned to build it and all about the components. That is the kind of thing he will remember and not all the toys and other things.